OF
Well-Known Member
Perhaps the lighter is better...perhaps the company adjusts the lighter to the best flame length...perhaps I'm just out of my mind.
I don't think the brand of lighter matters much, but for sure the total heat output (flame length) is an important factor. It adds to what I think is the biggest part of the learning curve here, guys are too shy about heat at first. Once you push it past where you want to run you get a feel for how aggressive you can be and still stay under the mark. Combustion is easy to avoid I think, but guys suffer needlessly through thin vapor.
I use the mouth of the VM as a gauge of length. There are basically two flames, I set the longer (thinner) of the two to the diameter of the mouth. That is base of the lighter on one side, the tip of the outer blue would be about 1.5 inches out at the other side of the rim. This tune varies some with temperature and fill level, but it's easy enough to check if the light is low enough (hard to see the outer flame in bright light).
BTW, I assume everyone knows the control valve is typically around the fill hole on these guys? A thin screwdriver or even a knife blade works fine to adjust.
By all means experiment with blocking the holes (although I recommend tape, less chance of problems) but after doing so I came back to 'as designed'.
As to why VM is such a secret, I suspect it's because the money's on stuff mass produced in China?
OF